Paul Robeson

The Years of Promise and Achievement

A compelling biography of a great American in his formative years

Sheila Tully Boyle and Andrew Buni

Details

Description

The son of a former slave, Paul Robeson (1898–1976) rose to become an All-American athlete, Phi Beta Kappa student, internationally celebrated singer and actor, and champion of racial equality. Yet despite his courage and many accomplishments, he could not overcome the combined effects of racism and McCarthyism. He was forced to live his last years in internal exile under FBI surveillance, a broken man.

Over twenty years in preparation, this massively researched biography takes Robeson from his humble beginnings in rural New Jersey to international fame on the eve of World War II. Drawing on a variety of new sources, the book presents a fully rounded picture—a portrait that corrects, supplements, and revises previous work on Robeson and his circle.

Reviews

"The son of a runaway slave, Robeson was a distinguished athlete and scholar at Rutgers and attended Columbia Law School before becoming a world-famous actor. An important figure in the history of U.S. performance and politics, he disappeared from public view by the end of his life. But the past decade or so has ushered in a revival of interest: Martin Duberman's groundbreaking 1988 biography, Paul Robeson, introduced him to a new generation of scholars; it was followed by academic writings about the performer's career and politics and Paul Robeson Jr.'s "intimate, informal memoir" (The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, Forecasts, Mar. 5). Twenty years in the making, this major biography covers Robeson's life from his birth in 1898 to the early height of his career in 1939. Focusing on the role of race in the development of Robeson's radical politics (e.g., how his understanding of political solidarity was broadened by exposure to anti-Semitism as well as racism at Rutgers), and how it manifested itself in his theater work (e.g., his refusal use racially offensive language in revivals of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones), Boyle and Bunie confirm Robeson Jr.'s thesis that his father's career was cut short because of the racism and anti-leftism of the 1950s. Touching on materials and insights covered in both the books by Duberman and Robeson Jr., and providing a few new details, Boyle and Bunie have condensed a huge amount of research into an accessible, perceptive biography that will be essential reading for anyone interested in studies of race, performance or theater in America."—Publishers Weekly

"More than any other recent biography, this book helps us understand Robeson's fusion of art and scholarship, his feeling for languages, his search for an alternative to racism that eventually led him to the Soviet Union and to alignment with the Left generally. The work offers a moving portrayal of the racist indignities and insults to which he was subjected. This is likely to become the standard scholarly Robeson biography."—Herbert Shapiro, author of White Violence and Black Response

"Boyle and Bunie paint a positive yet warts-all-and-all portrait, in particular exploring Robeson's convoluted public and private lives. His radical sensibilities did not form until the mid-1930s, when he supported the Spanish loyalists and particularly the Soviet Union. Highly recommended for all libraries."—Choice

"Given the meticulous research that went into this excellent biography, one can only hope that Boyle and Bunie will devote another volume to the years of Robeson's demise."—American Historical Review

"The authors set Robeson's triumphs both against his personal failings and against pervasive racism... This is an excellent biography."—Journal of American History

"Painstakingly examines the transformation of Paul Robeson from an accommodating, uninvolved aspiring actor to an acutely conscious, passionately active political figure involved in the struggle against racism. The authors recount in considerable detail Robeson's early life up to the outbreak of World War II and thoroughly analyze his theatrical work against a backdrop of steadily maturing political consciousness."—Joseph Boskin, author of Sambo: The Rise and Demise of an American Jester

"Based on a variety of new sources, including interviews with Robeson's contemporaries by coauthor Bunie (The Negro in Virginia Politics), this well-written volume offers a balanced picture of the artist negotiating U.S. racial attitudes and international politics."—Library Journal

Author

Sheila Tully Boyle is an editor and writer who specializes in American studies.

Andrew Bunie is professor of history at Boston College. His books include The Negro in Virginia Politics and Robert L. Vann and the Pittsburgh Courier.